Reuters World News - Cluster bomb disputes as Biden in Europe for NATO summit

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

President Biden has landed in Europe for a trip whose centerpiece is a NATO summit in Vilnius – but some allies have expressed their dismay at the US decision to arm Ukraine with controversial cluster bombs. In Michigan, a backlash is brewing against a giant new EV battery plant. Plus, the Hong Kong hostels hoping to placate youths with affordable housing. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt-out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Biden visits 10 Downing Street and Windsor Castle, ahead of a NATO summit that aims to show solidarity with Ukraine, but stops short of allowing it membership to the military alliance. Authorities hunt for hundreds of migrants missing off the coast of Senegal, plus the hostels housing Hong Kong's young people, and the NIMBY backlash in the Rust Belt over an electric battery plant. It's Monday, July 10th. This is Reuters World News,

with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. Every weekday. I'm Tara Oaks in London. Joe Biden begins his European tour with sit-downs with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles today. Then it's off to Vilnius, Lithuania, for one of the most critical NATO summits in decades. The military alliance wants to show solidarity with Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

But there are rifts. Biden doesn't want Ukraine to join NATO right. now, for fear of dragging the alliance into direct conflict with Russia. Turkey continues to block Sweden's membership, and there is international dismay at the U.S.'s decision to supply Ukraine with widely banned cluster bombs. Retired U.S. Marine Colonel, Mark Kansian, now a senior advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, spoke to Reuters about the weapons. There's no such thing as a game-changing weapon back when there were discussions on Patriot, when there were discussions about tanks and discussions about F-16s and now cluster munitions. On the other hand,

all of these weapons are useful. They're all effective on the battlefield. They will all help Ukraine in its struggle, but no single weapon is going to produce victory. Our White House correspondent, Steve Holland, is with the president and has told us what to expect from the summit this week. They will use this summit to rally more support for Ukraine. So it's significant in the sense that they're going to maintain transatlantic unity on behalf of Ukraine in their war against Russia. And they also will welcome Finland into their ranks. Now, there's some controversy over Sweden. Turkey is blocking Sweden's accession to NATO.

And so I'm sure the president will seek to try to iron out those differences and see if they can make progress on Sweden as well. How do these foreign trips play out as Biden thinks about next year's election? It's important for Joe Biden to go to Europe and show American support for Ukraine. Back in the United States, support for Ukraine is a hotly debated subject. Many Republican candidates oppose sending billions of dollars to Ukraine. Some do support it. Joe Biden is firmly in the camp of we need to support Ukraine as a bulwark against Russia.

Now, the other news making headlines around the world. Authorities are continuing a desperate hunt for three migrant boats that have gone missing between Senegal and Spain's Canary Islands. Hundreds of people are believed to be packed on the boats, but their families have not heard from them. As more and more migrants make the perilous trip to Europe, aid workers say the three boats have been missing since June. Breaking news in China,

where at least six people have been killed in an attack on a kindergarten. Local media is reporting the incident was a stabbing, and that children are among the victims. Police in Guangdong province say they have arrested a 25-year-old man. Pope Francis says he will create 21 new cardinals, continuing his shift of the church towards Asia and Africa. The pontiff once again put his mark on the group that will one day choose his successor. He expanded the list of so-called Princese of the Church with fewer Europeans than his predecessor.

North Korea is accusing the United States of violating its airspace, with surveillance flights and says it may shoot down the planes. A spokesperson from North Korea's Ministry of National Defence said provocative military actions by the United States were bringing the Korean Peninsula closer to a nuclear conflict. There was no immediate comment from the US military. Blame it on the PIMS. That's what Belarusian tennis player Victoria Azarenka

said when the crowd booed her for not offering her hand to Alina Svetolina at Wimbledon. Like other Ukrainian players, Fidelina has refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players since the invasion of her home country. To markets now, and Carmel Crimmons is back in the hot seat in Dublin. Carmel, it looks as if there's something new to worry about in China. That's right. The Chinese economy is on the brink of deflation. So producer prices fell at their fastest pace in over seven years in June, and consumer prices are flat.

Now, investors expect Beijing to cut interest rates again, and many believe the government will try and stimulate the economy. But the data shows the scale of the challenge facing Beijing if it wants to avoid a Japanese-style spiral of falling prices. And that's dampened the mood on markets, overshadowing signs of a thaw in Sino-U.S. relations after Janet Yellen's trip to Beijing. For many US Midwestern towns, a new factory and thousands of jobs will be seen as a blessing.

But as the Biden administration pushes to revive manufacturing by bringing clean energy and chip manufacturing jobs to the US, some communities are pushing back. Tim Appel has been digging into why these new factories are not always welcome. Tim, what's the opposition to these facilities? Well, I think it's a combination of things. One thing in particular is the size and scope of these. And part of the push for clean energy has required sort of a major

multi-billion dollar per plant push to create assembly plants, battery plants. I think the other part of this is the unknown. In this case, we were writing about is a battery plant which involves lithium. It's a new technology. And so I think there's a certain amount of uneasiness and skepticism about the risks that might be involved that there were leaks of materials or contamination of groundwater, for example. So there's an environmental element of this opposition. Is there a political side as well? Well, the politics are really interesting in Michigan because, of course, you have a Democratic governor, was present for the big announcement of this plant. And so there's a very strong support for this. Now you have a certain amount of,

in the smaller, more rural areas like this, you have a lot of Republicans. And there's been some skepticism in the National Republican Party about these investments into new energy technology. So you probably have a mix of that. The other part that makes it complicated is that Ford is licensing the technology for this battery plant from the world's largest battery maker, which happens to be Chinese, and a lot of the opponents of this site that as a factor in their opposition, though, Ford's response is that it's a 100% forward-operated plant and doesn't have direct involvement by the Chinese. For most young adults, moving out of home is a rite of passage, but in Hong Kong,

it's usually an unaffordable dream. But a hostile program has created solutions for It was ramped up under pressure from Chinese President Xi Jinping. Beijing believes youth frustration with housing contributed to the anti-government pro-democracy protests that rocked the city in 2019. Claire Jim went to see what the subsidised rooms are like. These youth hostels in Hong Kong are actually co-living spaces, which are sponsored by the government and operated by NGOs to provide affordable housing for young people. And so these rooms are rented out at 40% discount

to market rates for a maximum of five years. And like many co-living spaces, these hallsaw usually have single or double-bedroom and tenants would need to share a kitchen and common living room in the building. One of the residents I met is called Chelsea. She's a 23-year-old insurance agent, and she's very happy with her new home now

because it's much more affordable. And then she has been wanting to move out from her parents' place and live with her boyfriend. And she's also very happy because the whole hostel setting right now encourages interactions between tenants and with the community. That's something that's usually lacking in a fast-paced city like Hong Kong. President Xi Jinping was in Hong Kong last July telling the Hong Kong government

they need to help young people to solve housing and job problems. and create opportunities for their self-development. Even if the government managed to meet the target, it would still be very far from the number we need to satisfy all the housing need in the city. And the government will have to do more to find supply from different channels in order to really solve the problem in a long term.

Claire Jim for Reuters in Hong Kong. That's all we have for today's edition of Reuters World News. Kim will be back tomorrow hosting our daily news show. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, don't forget to subscribe on your favourite podcast player or download the Reuters app.